Canada Archives

The Explorer’s Rose: John Cabot’s Lasting (and Thorny) Impact

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 2, 1497 On this day, John Cabot, the intrepid Canadian Explorer, set sail from Bristol, England, on his ship, Matthew. Little did he know that his quest for a westward route would…

May 3, 2021 Five Agrotourism Hotspots, Charles Joseph Sauriol, May Sarton, Seasonal Inspiration, Half Baked Harvest Super Simple by Tieghan Gerard, and the Victor Cicansky Gazebo

Today we celebrate a Canadian conservationist and author. We’ll also learn about a pioneering Belgian-American gardener, poet, and novelist. We hear an excerpt about how poets find inspiration in nature. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a cookbook that shows how to prepare beautiful meals with fewer ingredients and offers foolproof meal-prepping and effortless entertaining.…

March 3, 2021 Planning a Productive Veg Garden, Matthias de L’Obel, Alexander Graham Bell, Katie Vaz on Rhubarb, Find Your Mantra by Aysel Gunar, and the Birth Flower for March

Today we celebrate the man who is remembered in one of the garden’s sweetest summer annuals – the lobelia. We’ll also learn about the man who invented the telephone – he also happened to love gardening and the natural world. We hear a great memory about rhubarb from one of my favorite garden books from…

Botanist Spies Blunder: New Canadian Currency Features a Norway Maple – Not a Sugar Maple

Sugar Maple Photo ® Yann Kemper, Public Domain

“They should have drawn it differently… because the Maple that they’ve drawn is quite clearly a Norway Maple.” January 18, 2013 On this day, Reuters published an article about the new Canadian twenty dollar bill. The article, by Randall Palmer, was called “Canada Put ‘Wrong’ Maple Leaf on New Canadian 20-dollar Bill.” Here’s an excerpt:…

January 18, 2021 Say No Thanks to Garden Shortcuts, Alan Alexander Milne, Rudyard Kipling, Thoughts on Thistles, A Year at Kew by Rupert Smith, and the Maple on the Canadian Dollar Bill

Today we celebrate the man who bought a forested property and wrote Winnie the Pooh. We’ll also learn about the poet who found fame and then gardening on a grand scale. We’ll hear some wonderful words about thistles. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a behind-the-scenes look at one of the World’s top gardens. And…

November 30, 2020 Wreaths to Keep Up, Martha Ballard, Nathanael Pringsheim, Mark Twain, Charlotte Fiske Bates, Trees, Shrubs & Hedges for Your Home, and Lucy Maud Montgomery

Today we celebrate an herbalist who kept a remarkable journal. We’ll also learn about the German botanist who founded the study of algae. We’ll review the charming words of an American writer and poet born today. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a helpful guide for trees, shrubs, and hedges. And then we’ll wrap things…

November 17, 2020 Ten Ways to Rewild, Solway Moss, William Barton, William Caparne, Archibald Lampman, The Garden Chef by Phaidon Editors, and Queen Charlotte

Today we remember the momentous bursting of a peat bog in Scotland. We’ll also learn about the botanist nephew of Benjamin Smith Barton. We’ll honor a British Iris enthusiast and painter. We salute the poet known as the Canadian Keats. We’ll Grow That Garden Library™ with a cookbook for gardeners. And then we’ll wrap things…

Remembering Ernest Thompson Seton: Writer, Artist, Naturalist, and Cofounder of the Boy Scouts of America

“When Ernest turned 21, his dad handed him a bill for $537.50 – the grand total for every dime he had spent raising Ernest, including the fee from the delivery doctor for his birth in 1860. Ernest paid his father and then never spoke to him again.” October 23, 1946 On this day, the English-born…